Edna coach says no more 'one and done'

Edna head coach Huey Chancellor gives his offensive players directions inside of a huddle before a drill during Wednesday's practice at Edna High School. Chancellor came from coaching at Rockport-Fulton and will be leading the Cowboys for the first time this year.
Angeli Wright
for The Victoria Advocate

EDNA - Edna has made the football playoffs five of the last seven years.

But in four of those appearances, the Cowboys have been eliminated in the first round.

The early exits have stung as Huey Chancellor discovered after being named Edna's athletic director and head football coach in February.

"I was talking to the kids, and I asked them, 'What's the perception of Edna?'" Chancellor recalled. "The first one raised his hand and said, 'one and done.'"

"They're aware of that," Chancellor added. "As long as they're aware of that, with hard work and the right draw, we can get in the playoffs and maybe win a couple."

Chancellor, 54, has been coaching for 31 years and has been a head coach for 22 years.

He began working with the Cowboys after coming over from Rockport-Fulton in March.

The work continued on a hot Wednesday afternoon in preparation for Thursday night's scrimmage against St. Joseph at Cowboy Memorial Stadium.

"The situation that I came into - they had been very competitive and made the playoffs," Chancellor said. "These kids have had some success. Anytime you take over a program - I'm not saying my way is better. I'm just saying it's the only way I know how to do it."

Chancellor instituted a code of conduct, which the players had to sign, that spells out consequences for their actions.

"Everybody's expectation of discipline is different," he said. "If I had all those answers, I'd probably be coaching the Dallas Cowboys. But I've been in this business long enough to know kids will fall in line if they know what you expect of them, and they know there are consequences. When the consequences don't follow, that's where you lose control of them."

The players insist they've gotten the message and have adapted to the new coaching staff, which includes only two holdovers from last season.

"I noticed you have to show up every day and work hard, or he is going to get on your butt," said senior running back Marquis Broussard. "We've got a lot of changes on offense and defense. You've got to keep going, or you're going to have to do up-downs or all kinds of stuff."

Chancellor may be old school, but he is not opposed to having fun.

He had the players doing cartwheels and staged a dance competition between two players at the beginning of practice.

But when it came time for drills, the Cowboys were all business.

"We're just going to come in and set a real, disciplined program where the expectations are out in front of the kids, and they know where they are," Chancellor said. "We pay attention to the little things.

"I learned that being an old Odessa Permian guy years ago. Attention to detail and the little things do make a difference, and that's what we're trying to stress. There's that much difference in being good and bad and being good and great. That's what we've got to do."

The Cowboys appear willing to buy in to Chancellor's program if it means going deeper in the playoffs.

"We're tired of being one and done here at Edna," said junior lineman Dylan Kallus. "And that's almost everybody in this community. It's not only the football tea, but everybody in the community.

"Coach Chancellor has bent over backwards for us. There's some new stuff that we're trying to work at and get used to. We're going to be ready."

Mike Forman is a sports writer for the Victoria Advocate. Contact him at 361-580-6588 or mforman@vicad.com or comment on this column at AdvoSports.com.